Baseball

The 2022 baseball season comes to a thrilling close with four public state finals at Veterans Park in Mercer County. JSZ has all of the highlights and reaction! Middletown North 5 Cranford 4 (8 innings) | Group 3 State Final The Lions captured the first state title in program history with a thrilling win over the Cougars. Midd North scored the winning run on a fielder’s choice and an error to walk it off. Andrew Lombardi sparked the Lions (21-10) offense, going 2-3 with a home run and two RBIs. Seton Hall commit Colin Dowlen earned the win on the mound, going seven and a third innings. Shane Van Dam hit a home run for Cranford (25-5) in the loss. JSZ’s Mike Frankel has the story: JSZ’s coverage of Middletown North is brought to you by Monmouth Medical Center. JSZ’s coverage of Cranford is brought to you by Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. Howell 9 Hunterdon Central 8 | Group 4 State Final With two of their top pitchers unavailable on the injury list, the Rebels were still able to out-slug and out-duel the Red Devils en route to their first state championship. Howell (25-6) batted against Hunterdon Central (25-5) and came out on top of a seesaw battle for the Group 4 title. Howell got to Hunterdon Central ace Kyle McCoy right after Thomas Strauch clobbered a two-run home run as part of a four-run first inning. Russell Halvorsen put the Rebels in front for good in the fifth inning with a two-run single. JSZ’s Jay Cook has the highlights and reaction: Jersey Sports Zone’s coverage of Howell is brought to you by Monmouth Medical Center southern campus in Lakewood.  Jersey Sports Zone’s coverage of Hunterdon Central is brought to you by Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Somerville.  Woodstown 6 New Providence 2 | Group 1 State Final The Wolverines complete a historic journey by defeating the Pioneers to bring home its first state title since 1991. Jack Knorr led the way offensively for Woodstown (19-9), going 2-4 with a two-RBI double. Rowan commit Chase Rieger scattered three hits over five innings and allowed one run to pick up the win on the mound. Dean Licari homered in the loss from New Providence (20-9). JSZ’s James Mooney has the highlights and reaction: Ramsey vs. Haddon Heights | Group 2 State Final Ramsey defeated Haddon Heights in a 5-2 comeback victory for the Group 2 Championship. After giving up a solo home run to Coastal Carolina commit Caden Bodine in the first, The Rams trailed 2-0 in the third. A throwing error would tie the game in the bottom of the third, Connor O’Hara would drive in two more runs on a double to give Ramsey the lead. Sophomore pitcher Will Kirk recorded a four hit, two-run complete game with 13 strike outs for  Ramsey’s first ever Group 2 Title. JSZ’s Nery Rodriguez has the highlights and postgame reaction:

It’s sectional championship Friday on the diamond, and JSZ has highlights from six different games! Check back throughout the night as the videos are posted! Rumson-Fair Haven 4 Wall 3 | Group 2 Central Final Charlie Tallman hit a 2-run walk-off single to center to cap an amazing comeback by the Bulldogs to win their first sectional baseball championship in 18 years. Nick Lovarco hit a two-run homer in the 5th to give Wall a 2-1 lead and the Crimson Knights added an insurance run by Gabe Cavazzoni to take a 3-1 lead. RFH was down to its final strike before Aaron Del Tin worked a walk after fouling off seven pitches. From there, Reece Moroney hit an RBI double to make it 3-2 setting the table for Tallman’s heroics. JSZ’s Rich Chrampanis has the incredible finish and post-game reaction from an epic game: Jersey Sports Zone’s coverage of Rumson-Fair Haven is brought to you by Mario Venancio from Berkshire Hathaway/Fox & Roach Realtors. Cranford 10 Millburn 8 | Group 3 North 2 Final A nine-run outburst over the final two innings was the driving force to the Cougars’ rousing come-from-behind victory for the sectional title. Will Gallagher and Dennis McCaffery each had two-run singles to help Cranford (24-4) erase a 5-1 deficit and steal the lead for good. Millburn (25-6) was led by Copeland Culp and his four-RBI day. Cranford now advances to the state semifinals and will host Ramapo on Monday. JSZ’s Jay Cook has the highlights from Millburn: Cherokee 2 Kingsway 1 | Group 4 South Final The sixth-seeded Chiefs knocked off the top-seeded Dragons to win their first sectional championship since 2012. Freshman Brett Gable struck out eight to earn the win on the mound, while Grayson Bravo picked up the save. Brandon Petrick knocked in both runs for Cherokee (22-7) with a single in the sixth inning. Colin Gill drove in the lone run of the game for Kingsway (26-5) in the loss. The Chiefs advance to host Howell in the state semifinals next week. JSZ’s Mike Frankel has the highlights and reaction: St. Augustine 5 CBA 2 | Non-Public A South Final The Hermits captured their sixth straight sectional title with a victory over the Colts. Old Dominion commit Marco Levari struck out nine in six and two thirds innings of work to earn the win on the mound. St. Joseph’s commit Ryan Weingartner and Jordan Serrano each drove in a pair of runs for the Prep (27-1). George Kruse and Gavin Kus each had an RBI double for CBA (18-10) in the loss. St. Augustine will face Don Bosco for the state crown on Wednesday. JSZ’s Mike Frankel has the highlights and reaction from Richland: Don Bosco 4 Seton Hall Prep 2 | Non-Public A North Final Caden Dana struck out a season-high 11 batters over six innings of work and allowed one earned run to spark the Ironmen to their first sectional title since 2015. The game was tied at 2 going into the fifth inning and Eric Becker broke the game open with an RBI single, scoring Pablo Santos for the go-ahead run for Don Bosco (23-5). Seton Hall Prep (21-7) carried a 2-1 lead into the third inning, but couldn’t hold on. The Ironmen now turn their focus to St. Augustine for the Non-Public A state title game on Wednesday. JSZ’s Jay Cook has the highlights from Ramsey: Jersey Sports Zone’s coverage of Seton Hall Prep is brought to you by One-on-One with Steve Adubato! Haddon Heights 4 Cedar Creek 3 | Group 2 South Final The third-seeded Garnets bring home a South Jersey title after throwing out the potential game-tying run at the plate on a passed ball. Timmy Shell, Caden Bodine, John DiCastanzo, and Drew Harris each drove in a run during a four-run fifth inning in the win for Haddon Heights (21-7). John McColl and Nate Winterbottom finished with a RBI in the loss for top-seeded Cedar Creek (19-13). Haddon Heights will now face Central champion Rumson-Fair Haven in a Group 2 state semifinal on Monday. JSZ’s James Mooney has the highlights and reaction from a wild finish in Egg Harbor City: JSZ’s championship baseball coverage is brought to you by RWJ Barnabas Health.

There was just one state baseball playoff game in New Jersey on Monday and JSZ was there. Check out all the highlights of Ranney’s big win over Holy Spirit NOW! Ranney 16 Holy Spirit 8 | Non-Public “B” South Semifinal The Panthers hit three homers on the way to a 10-run first inning and outslugged the defending champs to earn the school’s first baseball sectional final berth. AJ Gracia led off the bottom of the first with a homer and Lou Spadafora and Charlie Chropuvka each hit three-run bombs in the first. Chropuvka finished the game 3-3 with four RBI’s. Ranney will face the winner of Bishop Eustace and Gloucester Catholic this Friday. JSZ’s Rich Chrampanis has the highlights from Tinton Falls: Jersey Sports Zone’s state baseball playoff coverage is brought to you by RWJ Barnabas Health

On a hot day in Lincroft, CBA and Paul VI brought the intensity in the opening round of the state baseball tournament. JSZ has all the highlights from an intense game! CBA 3 Paul VI 2 | Non-Public “A” South First Round Zaine Toneske broke a 2-2 tie with a leadoff solo homer to left field and Mike Kelly came on in relief of Colin Reilly in the 7th and got out of a jam to give the Colts a 3-2 win and a showdown with rival Red Bank Catholic this Friday in the Non-Public “A” South quarterfinals. CBA scored single runs in the first and fifth innings to take a 2-0 lead before Paul VI tied it on Mike Lucarelli’s steal of home during a failed squeeze attempt. After Toneske went yard, Paul VI had runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out in the 7th before the Colts got a double play and a Kelly strikeout to seal the win. JSZ’s Rich Chrampanis has the highlights of a game that had a number of momentum-swinging plays: Jersey Sports Zone’s baseball state playoff coverage is brought to you by RWJ Barnabas Health

After an arduous journey that spanned nearly two years, all Jack Silver wanted was to return to the mound. That return was everything he could have dreamed of, and more. Silver, a senior at Pascack Hills High School, made an inspirational return to the pitcher’s mound on Monday, May 23 when he took to the hill for his first career varsity pitching start. That’s special because silver is a cancer survivor who fought hard to get back to play the game he loves. JSZ’s Jay Cook profiles Jack Silver’s journey: This story was featured on Jersey Sports Zone’s weekly television show, JSZ-TV, this Sunday on WLNY-TV in the New York City market.

County and conference tournament action continues, as JSZ brings you highlights from four great games around the state to begin the new week! Ridge 6 Rutgers Prep 0 | Somerset County Tournament Final Ridge (1) defeated Rutgers Prep (6) 6-0 to raise their first Somerset County Tournament Title since 2011. The game would stay scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Ridge tacked on three runs with two outs, they would do the same in the fourth inning to lead by six. Pitching headlined the evening, junior Connor Byrne allowed just two hits, no earned runs and had 11 strike outs for the Red Devils. JSZ’s Nery Rodriguez has the highlights and postgame reaction: Thank you to RWJ Barnabas for sponsoring both our Ridge and Rutgers Prep coverage. Cranford 12 Dayton 2 (6 Innings) | Union County Tournament Final Ryan Jaros was 3-4 with three runs and four RBI’s to pace the top seed to a dominant performance on the way to the Union County championship. Jaros got the scoring started in the bottom of the first with an RBI single and added a two-run triple in the fifth and one more RBI single in the seventh. Will Gallagher threw six strong innings giving up just two runs and had eight strikeouts while walking no one. JSZ’s Rich Chrampanis has the highlights from Kean University: Jersey Sports Zone’s coverage of Cranford is brought to you by Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Mainland 2 Ocean City 1 | Cape-Atlantic League Tournament Semifinal Will Hoover threw a gem, striking out 11 in six innings of work to lead the Mustangs past the rival Red Raiders and into the CAL Tournament title game. Nick Wagner gave third-seeded Mainland (17-5) the lead with an RBI single in the sixth inning. St. John’s commit Tom Finnegan struck out five batters for second-seeded Ocean City (16-7) in the loss. Mainland will face top-seeded St. Augustine for the CAL Tournament championship on Thursday. JSZ’s Mike Frankel has the highlights: JSZ’s baseball coverage is brought to you in part by OceanFirst Bank. Pascack Hills 4 Pascack Valley 2 Joe Vernaglia came up clutch with a late two-run single that lifted the Broncos to a win against their crosstown rival. Pascack Valley (13-9-1) led 2-0 early in the game, thanks in part to a solo home run from Jimmy Shea. Pascack Hills (11-9) surged back in front to lead the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning thanks to that hit from Vernaglia. Jack Silver drew the start for Hills and allowed one earned run over four innings of work. JSZ’s Jay Cook has the highlights from Montvale: Jersey Sports Zone’s baseball coverage is brought to you by RWJ Barnabas Health.

The defending Shore Conference Tournament champs are in the final four. Watch the highlights of the Caseys quarterfinal win against Wall! Red Bank Catholic 7 Wall 1 | Shore Conference Tournament Quarterfinals Alex Stanyek threw a complete-game one-hitter with eight strikeouts and the Caseys busted open a 1-1 game with six runs in the 5th to move on to the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals. Duke commit Andrew Fischer made his first start giving Wall four quality innings but the Caseys took control of the game in the fifth paced by Frank Scrivanic’s 2-run single and Jack Meyers 2-run single. RBC will face the winner of St. John Vianney and Rumson-Fair Haven in the final four. JSZ’s Rich Chrampanis has the highlights from Red Bank: Jersey Sports Zone’s coverage of Red Bank Catholic is brought to you by Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch

Jersey Sports Zone brings you a pair of championship games from the diamond. We’ve got the Monmouth County Tournament title game between Wall and Middletown South along with the Diamond Classic finale featuring St. Augustine Prep and Lenape. Middletown South 11 Wall 1 (6 innings) | Monmouth County Tournament Championship Joe Stanzione blasted two homers and Ben Schild struck out 11 to lead the Eagles to a Monmouth County title snapping Wall’s nine-game streak. The Eagles scored in every frame starting with a Schild RBI double in the first and Will Christopher’s RBI double in the second. Stanzione hit towering solo homers in the third and the fourth. Evan Wood hit a two-run single in the 6th to clinch the title for the 17-8 Eagles. JSZ’s Rich Chrampanis has the highlights from Brookdale Community College: Jersey Sports Zone’s coverage of Middletown South is brought to you by Monmouth Medical Center. St. Augustine 4 Lenape 2 | Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic Championship The Hermits overcame an early deficit for the second day in a row to win their first Diamond Classic title since 2017. St. Joseph’s commit Ryan Weingartner hit a home run and struck out the side in the seventh inning to earn the save. Old Dominion commit Marco Levari added an RBI double, while Villanova commit C.J. Furey picked up the win for top-seeded St. Augustine (20-1). Dylan Shank had an RBI single for Lenape (15-3) in the loss. JSZ’s Mike Frankel has the highlights and reaction from Pitman: Jersey Sports Zone’s Diamond Classic coverage is brought to you by OceanFirst Bank.